Best Air Cooler

Finny76

Finny76

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 31, 2002
Messages
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Need to decide which one of these to use with my new i7 2700k build.
Price is NOT an issue BUT need the BEST air cooling possible!


  1. Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler
  2. CORSAIR CAFA70 120mm Dual-Fan CPU Cooler
  3. ZALMAN CNPS9900 NT 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
  4. Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler
  5. ZALMAN CNPS 9700 NT 110mm 2 Ball Ultra Quiet CPU Cooler
  6. ZALMAN CNPS9900ALED 120mm 2 Ball Low-noise Blue LED CPU Cooler
  7. Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BL 140mm UFB (Updraft Floating Balance) CPU Cooler
 
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best possible is the thermalright archon. But its also huge. Can you fit it?
 
Surprisingly you totally forgot the Thermalright Silver Arrow and Archon which is the best air cooler at the time.
 
That Zalman CNPS12X is mainly used for decent cooling vs complete silent. It is very very very quiet, but also doesn't cool as well as it looks, so meh on that one.
 
finny76 said:
Reading from reviews it seems this Cooler wont fit most Cases?! :confused:
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They fit most medium and full-tower cases in the market.Otherwise,the SA has issues with RAM modules which have high profile heatspreaders,and the Archon is too tall for some mid tower cases.

And since you said that money is not an issue,i guess you'd use a full tower case that fits every air cooler you get.
 
Harry1969 said:
That's not gonna happen don't worry about it
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+1

Also from personal experience, I have built 15 custom WC setups and I have had 5 of them leak. In my own personal custom watercooling setup I have had it leak about 5 different times. I have never suffered a fried component from leaking. Everytime it leaks I shut the computer down and let it dry, then fire it up and everything is fine. Also once I had it completely spill out all over the motherboard, GPU, CPU, RAM, and PSU. The computer actually shut itself off and I thought it was fried. I let it sit for 2 days, and then powered it back up, it worked without a hitch.

So if you are worried about leaks, 1) the Corsair is a closed loop solution and the chances of it leaking are extremely slim, 2) even if you do get a leak the chance you will fry a component is slim. Distilled water is not conductive, BUT, it can become conductive when mixed with dust and other particles, so if a leak occurs you want to shut the system down as soon as possible.

In my custom kits I always use UV dye and install blacklights in my case, it makes it easier to see when leaks occur.
 
i would agree with the user 'thesecond' on the thermalrights archon because its such a lightweight slim cooler.The noctua d14 is for sure a superb cooler but the 800+gramms scare the shit outta me in terms of breaking the mobo by accidental phisical impact...and i dunno it just looks so unnatural.

Btw anyone know if i can fit the archon on maximus gene z68 board without interfering with the 1st vga slot(i mean realy know)?
thanks in advance
 
finny76 said:
I would love to get the Corsair H100/80 but afraid of any possible leaks that could destroy my entire build, so thats why air cooling is the safer bet.
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Well,the chance of leaking from a closed loop system is pretty slim.

And even if it does happen and your components get damaged,i'm sure that Corsair (and Antec,their rep talked about how they'd cover the damage) will replace your damaged components for free.One guy here got his eVGA GTX580 replaced when his H50 blew and spilled the coolant onto it.
 
finny76 said:
OK so if i decided to go for water cooling which one should i go for?

From some of the review at Anandtech it seems that the Thermalright Silver Arrowperformed better than the Corsair H60 and H80.
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If you can fit it, I would go for the Corsair H100. Some air coolers will perform better than water cooling, but they are also sporadic. The advantage of water cooling is a more stable temperature, wherease air cooling allows for more dramatic spikes in heat.

That being said, the silver arrow will probably be a solid cooler. I am not trying to knock air cooling at all, I did it for a long time. I just like the more stable even temps of water cooling. I seem to get much more stable OCs when I use watercooling.
 
NoOther said:
Do you have to go with air? Do you not want to try using something like the Corsair H100 or H80?

For the top Air Coolers check out this link:

http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm
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my closed-loop cooler busted while i was away for the weekend. sprayed coolant all over the innards of the case. now my office reeks of whatever they put in these things and i had some iron oxide build up on a transformer near the 8pin power supply. i cleaned everything up with alcohol, dried out my nb/sb/vrm heatsync, doused the case/fans/wiring with alcohol rags. it still smells bad but it's getting better, computer still runs like a tank -- but the motherboard in my main rig weighs like 7.5lbs -- it is a tank.

tl;dr - get a $50 fan and avoid close-loop coolers - it sucks if they bust.
 
kcmastrpc said:
my closed-loop cooler busted while i was away for the weekend. sprayed coolant all over the innards of the case. now my office reeks of whatever they put in these things and i had some iron oxide build up on a transformer near the 8pin power supply. i cleaned everything up with alcohol, dried out my nb/sb/vrm heatsync, doused the case/fans/wiring with alcohol rags. it still smells bad but it's getting better, computer still runs like a tank -- but the motherboard in my main rig weighs like 7.5lbs -- it is a tank.

tl;dr - get a $50 fan and avoid close-loop coolers - it sucks if they bust.
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Thats what i am afraid of, but not sure how many people have ran into this issue?
 
kcmastrpc said:
my closed-loop cooler busted while i was away for the weekend. sprayed coolant all over the innards of the case. now my office reeks of whatever they put in these things and i had some iron oxide build up on a transformer near the 8pin power supply. i cleaned everything up with alcohol, dried out my nb/sb/vrm heatsync, doused the case/fans/wiring with alcohol rags. it still smells bad but it's getting better, computer still runs like a tank -- but the motherboard in my main rig weighs like 7.5lbs -- it is a tank.

tl;dr - get a $50 fan and avoid close-loop coolers - it sucks if they bust.
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Sucks that happened, but those scenarios are pretty isolated. That is the first time I have actually heard a first account of one busting. Like I have mentioned before in my custom setups which are far more prone to leaks (at initial setup), I have had a number of leaks. But none of them has caused me to question watercooling.

As for the closed loop they use additives to prevent corrosion, that is probably what the smell came from. In my custom setups I also use fluids with additives to prevent corrosion, but I have never noticed a smell or any build up. That is an interesting scenario.
 
NoOther said:
Sucks that happened, but those scenarios are pretty isolated. That is the first time I have actually heard a first account of one busting. Like I have mentioned before in my custom setups which are far more prone to leaks (at initial setup), I have had a number of leaks. But none of them has caused me to question watercooling.

As for the closed loop they use additives to prevent corrosion, that is probably what the smell came from. In my custom setups I also use fluids with additives to prevent corrosion, but I have never noticed a smell or any build up. That is an interesting scenario.
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i'm not sure how it happened but one of the hoses was ground down a bit - I migrated this cooler through 4 builds, so I guess it finally said f it, i'm out. i don't remember any fans hitting the tubing though, it may have been there since install and i just never noticed it.

it was a oem asetek, pretty low-end, but there is always the chance with water cooling - and even though it doused my system pretty good it still kept going like nothing was wrong till I got home and heard water trickling.

i ended up grabbing http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186049 and it keeps my cpu pretty chill.
 
kcmastrpc said:
i'm not sure how it happened but one of the hoses was ground down a bit - I migrated this cooler through 4 builds, so I guess it finally said f it, i'm out. i don't remember any fans hitting the tubing though, it may have been there since install and i just never noticed it.

it was a oem asetek, pretty low-end, but there is always the chance with water cooling - and even though it doused my system pretty good it still kept going like nothing was wrong till I got home and heard water trickling.

i ended up grabbing http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186049 and it keeps my cpu pretty chill.
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Yeah that sucks, strange the hose would get ground down like that, not sure what fan would be able to do that. I guess its possible though.

Yeah that cooler has been a pretty solid one. I advocate watercooling because I think it provides more stable temps, but by no means do I think its always superior. I just tend to like the closed loop solutions now since they are much easier to install than custom watercooling and still provide many of the benefits. Also I have had a few cases recently where I couldn't fit the high end air coolers and the closed loop solutions fit well. On the other than, they aren't the most budget friendly, and they too can have problems fitting in cases like the OPs case as I mentioned.
 
NoOther said:
I think it would be difficult to fit the H100 in that case because it has a 240mm radiator. I would suggest either going with the H80, or one of the air coolers.
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Well if it does not fit the a LIAN LI PC-7FN then im better off getting a Air cooler instead of the H60 or H80.
 
finny76 said:
Well if it does not fit the a LIAN LI PC-7FN then im better off getting a Air cooler instead of the H60 or H80.
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Perhaps, I got an H80 rather than air cooling for the stability. But really I say go for whatever you are most comfortable with. If you are not comfortable with watercooling by all means stay with air cooling. I think it should run great with the air cooler. I just recommend checking out Frostytech's site to see their various stats on air coolers and they list dimensions, noise, etc. there.
 
i dont mind the Corsair Watercoolers as they are closed circuit, so the chances of any leaks are slim But what I am concerned about is why pay a premium for a H60/80 water cooler when an air cooler outperforms both of them?

:confused::confused:
 
finny76 said:
i dont mind the Corsair Watercoolers as they are closed circuit, so the chances of any leaks are slim But what I am concerned about is why pay a premium for a H60/80 water cooler when an air cooler outperforms both of them?

:confused::confused:
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They work great for certain cases where a tall air cooler won't fit and I'm pretty sure the H80 can hang with the best air coolers. Check out the reviews.
 
finny76 said:
i dont mind the Corsair Watercoolers as they are closed circuit, so the chances of any leaks are slim But what I am concerned about is why pay a premium for a H60/80 water cooler when an air cooler outperforms both of them?

:confused::confused:
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Just a matter of taste. Like I said, go with whatever you are most comfortable with. My choice for the H80 is because I have an Antec Skeleton case and there isn't enough head room for the top end air coolers. Also I really prefer the stable temps I generally get from watercooling. But those are just my opinions, your tastes may be different. If you feel the cost is not worth it, then go with an air cooler. Your case can probably fit the top end air coolers. That is why I suggest frostytech so you can get the actual sizes of all the coolersin a convenient location. Like I said there are plenty of great air coolers.

:)
 
finny76 said:
i dont mind the Corsair Watercoolers as they are closed circuit, so the chances of any leaks are slim But what I am concerned about is why pay a premium for a H60/80 water cooler when an air cooler outperforms both of them?

:confused::confused:
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No cleareance issue with RAM or mainboard heatsink,less stress on the CPU socket area,and customer support (they'll cover your damage if there's any caused by leaking).

And the H80 has the same performance with the top air coolers,only the H60 has worse performance than the Archon.
 
silver arrow ftw, it's very quiet and very effective, don't get ram with big g skill heat sinks and you'll be fine,
 
Nothing tops the silver arrow, Only custom water beats it, I could care less what any review says I have owned closed loop water coolers and thermalright silver arrow eats them alive when the overclock is up there those closed loops just can't keep up (and that was with push/pull 3300 RPM delta fans on the rad).
Silver arrow beats it and also is about as quiet as my PSU fan.
 
Having owned both the H100 and D14, I prefer the D14. The H100 pump has a consistent high pitched noise that I find quite irritating. I chose the D14 over the Silver Arrow because of Noctua's better mounting system.
 
The PC-7FN is a full sized tower case, so they will more than likely fit.

Amazon stocks both, however there's likely better places to buy. I don't really know as I don't live in the States :)
 
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